Colombia draws the curtain on a combustible campaign this Sunday, June 21, 2026, choosing between right-wing outsider Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist Senator Iván Cepeda in a runoff that will set the nation's course for the 2026–2030 term and reframe its strained ties with Washington. Whoever prevails is due to be sworn in on August 7.
When and where to vote
Voting tables open at 8:00 a.m. and shut at 4:00 p.m. local time. Show up after the cutoff and you'll be turned away, the single exception being anyone who has already handed their ID to the table jurors before closing. The electoral authority retained the same locations and tables used on May 31, so each voter's spot can be confirmed through the Registraduría's official channels. The only accepted document is the citizenship card, either physical or inside the Registraduría's app.
For citizens abroad, the window is far wider: consular voting opened June 15 and closes June 21, with 253 overseas polling sites across 67 countries operating 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in each local time zone. More than 1.4 million Colombians overseas are eligible. Nationwide, authorities report more than 106,000 voting tables installed for the contest.
A heavy security footprint
The day is built around the year-long "Plan Democracia" operation. Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez laid out a precise deployment: 248,000 military and police on the ground, backed by 160,000 in support roles, for 408,000 personnel in all guarding polling sites, escorting ballot material, and securing transit routes. In the capital, the Metropolitan Police will field roughly 12,000 officers alongside more than 2,200 district workers, with neighborhoods such as Ciudad Bolívar and others receiving closer attention. A dry law halts alcohol sales in Bogotá from midnight Saturday, June 20, until noon Monday, June 22.
Days out, Sánchez sounded a wary note, flagging the possibility of violent disturbances or vandalism on voting day after spotting calls circulating online. Police placed 99 municipalities under watch for possible post-result unrest, with Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and Barranquilla a particular focus. Cutting the other way, the ELN guerrilla group declared a three-day unilateral ceasefire, ordering fighters to suspend offensive operations from midnight June 20 to midnight June 23 so as not to disturb the vote, El Pais reported.
What the polls say
Late surveys lean toward de la Espriella, though analysts warn Colombian runoffs can swing hard in the closing days. The Guarumo and Ecoanalítica poll for El Tiempo put him at 52.6% to Cepeda's 45%, a 7.6-point spread, though Reuters rendered the same survey's Cepeda figure at 44.8%. AtlasIntel for Semana showed a near-identical gap, roughly 52% to 44.5%. A much closer reading came from the Centro Nacional de Consultoría for Cambio: 48.6% to 44.7%, a 3.9-point margin. That sub-four-point figure is the tightest of the recent measurements, and pollsters stress these are snapshots, not predictions. The first round on May 31 closed with de la Espriella at 43.74% and Cepeda at 40.90%.
A bitter final week
The closing stretch grew venomous. On June 11, Cepeda filed a criminal complaint accusing de la Espriella of past ties to the AUC paramilitaries, naming conspiracy, terrorism financing and illicit enrichment, lodged with the Attorney General's Office and the International Criminal Court. Four days later he filed a second complaint over an alleged looting of health-system funds tied to the defunct Salud Vida EPS. De la Espriella brushed the accusations off as a smokescreen and hit back by writing to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, claiming armed criminal groups were bending the vote across the country's southwestern Pacific belt. Both camps also traded charges of staged attacks on themselves, with authorities saying they had nothing to back either side's claims.
